High School Girls

LM Midwest Region Report: June 1, 2011

Player of the Week

Kelsey Gallagher, Loyola Academy (Ill.)
Even though it wasn't, last Monday's meeting between Loyola
Academy and New Trier had all the makings of a state title game.
Even though the teams had met in the championship game for the last
three seasons, new sectional alignments forced the game to be
played three rounds earlier than past years. With just about
everything on the line, junior midfielder Kelsey Gallagher rose to
the occasion for the Ramblers, leading the team with five goals in
the 14-12 victory. After Loyola jumped out to an early lead, New
Trier rallied back and tied the game at five. But a pair of goals
by Gallagher and Stephanie Scherer pushed the Ramblers advantage to
9-5, and they would never look back. On a team with scorers like
Scherer, Nicole Gleason and Molly Hulseman, Loyola is difficult to
defend. But when players like Gallagher score too, the Ramblers are
almost unstoppable.

Midwest Region Top 10

1. Loyola Academy (Ill.) – (19-2) –
Arguably the Ramblers' toughest postseason test is out of the way,
as they beat New Trier, and Loyola is two games away from repeating
as state champions.

2. New Trier (Ill.) – (19-3) –
Despite their two-goal loss to Loyola in the second round of the
state tournament, New Trier put together another great season and
went gate-to-gate as the Midwest's No. 2 team.

3. Medina (Ohio) – (13-2) – Medina
continued its quest for back-to-back Ohio state titles, knocking
off Shaker Heights, 14-3, in the second round of the
tournament.

4. Blake School (Minn.) – (12-0) –
Riding high off their win against Eden Prairie, Blake beat
Benilde-St. Margaret's, 17-5, in the Eagles' first-round game of
the Minnesota state playoffs.

5. Cleveland Heights (Ohio) – (10-6)
– The Tigers' two post-season victories have come by a
combined score of 33-6, and they've won four straight since a
one-goal loss to New Trier.

6. Hudson (Ohio) – (14-2-1) – Since
their overtime loss to Chagrin Falls in early May, the Explorers
have been playing arguably their best lacrosse thus far, which
includes a 14-5 win over Kent Roosevelt in the state tournament
last week.

7. Eden Prairie (Minn.) – (10-1) –
We've got our attention focused on a potential rematch with Blake
later in the state tournament, but for now, the Eagles met Champlin
Park on Tuesday in the third round of Minnesota state
sectionals.

8. Upper Arlington (Ohio) – (15-4)
– The Golden Bears have strung together three straight
authoritative postseason victories, the most recent of which was a
20-11 defeat of always-dangerous Sycamore.

9. New Albany (Ohio) – (15-3) –
It's never easy to beat the same team twice in a season, especially
against a local rival, but the Eagles pulled off the trick against
Mason, advancing in the state tournament with a 9-3 win.

10. Okemos (Mich.) – (18-2) – The
Chieftains drop down a few spots in the rankings after losing their
regular-season finale, 13-10, to Pioneer (Mich.), a rare loss
against an in-state foe for Okemos.

Game of the Week

No. 5 Cleveland Heights (Ill.) at No. 3 Medina (Ohio)
– Tuesday
These Division-I, Northern region squads didn't meet in the
regular season, but they've posted near-carbon-copy results against
similar opponents; for example, both schools lost to New Trier by
only one goal in late April. Since confusion over player
eligibility that forced it to forfeit a few games, Cleveland
Heights has gotten back on track as one of the state's most potent
offenses. Medina, on the other hand, has been one of the state's
most consistent teams, outside of back-to-back losses earlier in
the year. The Battling Bees are looking to repeat as Ohio
Division-I state champs, and whoever wins this battle will have the
inside track for the 2011 title.

UPDATE: Cleveland Heights had Medina on the
ropes only to watch early, but Medina came back and won on junior
attacker Ellie Hudson-Heck's game-winning goal
with 5:19 remaining for an 11-10 victory in the Ohio Schoolgirls
Lacrosse Association Division I regional final at Hawken
School.

News and Notes

First-year coach Ken Tomozawa helped lead
Carmel to the Indiana state championship, as the
Greyhounds beat Culver Academy, 17-7, in the title
game. Katie Pittman led the way for Carmel, as she
found the back of the net four times and dished out seven assists
in the final. ... Other than Loyola Academy,
Libertyville, Hinsdale Central
and St. Ignatius remain in the hunt for the
Illinois state championship and round out the final four... In the
Ohio Division II state tournament, a couple of interesting matchups
are on the slate for next weekend. Rocky River
will meet Columbus Academy and
Mariemont will face Hathaway
Brown, the defending champs.